Monday, March 14, 2011

I heard on the radio today that former Stones guitarist Mick Taylor announced intent to write a memoir book a la Keith Richards' book Life.

Taylor told BANG Showbiz,"I kind of loved it. I loved it and I hated it. The more successful the Stones became the more seriously they took themselves. I jot down my memories all the time and have done for years in case I ever lose my mind. I don't want to write the kind of book that will shock people, about the scandals, sex, drugs and rock and roll because Keith's done that with his book."

I would love a book by Taylor on his years in the band - their most prolific period by far. But then he said, "It's a hard book to write. My time will come but it's not yet."

So is he writing it or not? I dunno. So I dug around some more and found this far more interesting gem:

Examiner.com reports that Taylor joined Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman and Ronnie Wood onstage at a tribute to the Stones' late pianist and co-founder Ian Stewart. The story goes:

What may be the closest thing to a Rolling Stones concert in 2011 happened on March 9 at the Ambassadors Theatre in London. As previously reported in this column, Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts, Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood and former Rolling Stones bass player Bill Wyman were rumored to perform at a tribute concert in honor the late Ian Stewart, who was an original member of the Rolling Stones. That rumor turned out to be true, and former Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor was also part of the all-star event (consisting of two separate concerts in the same evening), which was billed as a Ben Waters show "with special guests.

What? Holy shit. And YouTube, being the second most popular search engine on the planet, of course has front row video for your edification:

Footnote - the author of the article, Carla Hay, who has interviewed all past and current Stones? I knew her in high school. Oh Carla, I knew you way back when! You've come a long way, baby! Ha ha ha.

Friday, March 04, 2011

Props to Seano at Circle of Fits, who found and posted this already but I just had to steal it. Why in the hell was my elementary school music class not this cool? Holy shit. This needs zero explanation or analysis. Just watch it.

Well, actually two notes - see how the BOYS are much more animated by this music, and I do love the ripping air guitar solo section. 'Nuff said.

Got the new Rolling Stone in the mail - Snooki on the cover? Really? That is just insulting. At least that Bieber guy sold some records. Snooki is just a white trash piece of crap that no one will remember in one year.

But I rescued the issue from the recycling pile because I noticed there was an excerpt from Sammy Hagar's new book that dishes dirt on the Van Halen reunion in 2004. That is worth a read. I am actually pretty interested in his book, as I really enjoyed most of Van Hagar and it will be interesting to get Hagar's take on what went right and ultimately wrong in that band.

The book covers his whole career from Montrose to solo to VH to Chickenfoot - a band I love almost as much as Them Crooked Vultures. Plus he's a funny fucker and I bet it'll be a good read.

I have not read the Rolling Stone excerpt yet but I did see this Q&A with the magazine online, as reposted by Eddie Trunk. A few interesting quotes:

RS: Are there things you didn't put in the book because you didn't want to piss off Ed or David Lee Roth?

SH: Oh, hell no. I didn't really consider that, because they know what happened. I didn't make up anything. I didn't embellish anything. The only thing is that I didn't go as crazy as I could have about the sex, drugs and rock & roll part of my early years. I have a nine-year-old daughter and a 14-year-old daughter. I'm cringing as I'm writing this book going, "Oh, jeez. I really don't want them to read this." But how can I not? My wife looked at some chapters and went, "You're not going to put this in there, are you?" I'm going, "Yes I am!" I hope my daughters understand. I might have them read Keith Richards' book first.

RS: What do you think the percent odds are that you'll ever play in Van Halen again?

SH: I'd say it's up there around 90 percent. I would love to make another record with Van Halen. If Eddie was totally cool and was back to the guy I used to know, or a new guy, not the guy I knew the last time [laughs]. He can’t be that guy. I wouldn’t do it if he was like that. It’s below zero, minus zero. But if Eddie really got his life together, which it seems he has judging by the pictures I've seen, then definitely.

RS: You really think there's a 90 percent chance?

SH: There's no rumor. There’s no reason to say, "Yes, I’ve got this vibe going on." Right now, zero chance. When my book comes out, zero for a while. But someday, before we all die, fuck yeah. We might be in our nineties though. Back to burning bridges: If you choose to write an autobiography, which I did, then you only have one shot. If you don't tell it all then you sit there for the rest of your life telling stories and people are like, "Well why wasn’t that in the book?" I don’t wanna have to do that. It’s all right there.

Tuesday, March 01, 2011

ClassicRock Magazine is reporting that Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart are writing and recording an album, which would be their first full project since the late 60s/early 70s. Rumors flew around in December with reports of the two hanging out and talking about a project but Beck told CR.com many more exclusive details.

Beck is a funny fucker. Seems like he's tough to nail down. I don't know. Read the below snips and the full article and you tell me - what do you think the odds are of this actually happening?

There have been rumblings in the studio, and yes I have done some demos for him and with him. This happened after our lunch liaison in Los Angeles, but just as matters were proceeding his new baby came along and completely screwed up the whole thing.

Over our next lunch Rod and me will probably beat each other to death, but the fact remains he’s coming to see me and we are going over the material, all of it. I want to see that Rod is genuine into the idea and that it’s not just a weekend’s fancy. I don’t think it is because his manager (Arnold Stiefel) is well into it.

Stage One was just agreeing that it was basically a good idea and then Stage Two was the actual collaboration and co-writing. Stage Three was me lending my studio in Los Angeles to Rod for the demos, to the tune of $17.000! So I’ll be expecting a cheque from Rod for that! But I’ve got two chances there! No chance and no flippin’ chance! But while he’s sitting there listening to the tracks I’ll sneak out and….nah I can’t say that!

The article continues:

In 2004, the Jeff Beck Group reunited to play at the Royal Albert Hall with Ronnie Wood on bass, Rod at the mic and Jeff on guitar. They rehearsed a lot of classic material from their original albums and a couple of choice numbers like Rock My Plimsoul and I Ain’t Superstitious. And in 1985, Stewart guested on the Beck album Flash; the pair performed a cover of The Impressions’ People Get Ready.

“It sounded fucking brilliant,” Stewart recalled. But the concert was cancelled when Jeff phoned Rod and said he’d had a change of heart. Subsequently they did perform together in Los Angeles, and Beck caught the bug again. Now he has said that he “Would have to turn the clock back 20 or 30 years to match what Rod does, stylistically. Not that that is meant to be a derogatory statement. He loves the 60s. He loves blues he loves old stuff.” So no stretch for Beck there then.

Speaking of Jeff Beck-era blues guitarists, I missed the highly overrated Eric Clapton at the Portland Rose Garden last night. Friends who went (and share my opinion on him) said he was in fine form and that I should have gone. Shit. I do love his work when it's with other people (Roger Waters, Santana, BB King, soundtracks, etc). Oh well...

And back to Beck and Stewart, why should we care? Dig this ole gem for some context:

And Jesus H, scroll this to about 2:00 to see what it sounds like to have Jimmy Page in your back-up band!